The last tar sands pipeline
By Winona LaDuke In early June, I traveled to Enbridge’s Shareholder meeting in Calgary, in Alberta Canada. Outside, laid off oil workers screamed, “Build that Pipe” over a bullhorn, and asked people to honk if they supported Canadian oil. Those tar sands workers will likely never have jobs in the industry again – economists, and […]
Sex, fossil fuels, and matriarchal economics
By Winona LaDuke In July of 2013, Ramsey County charged Mike Allen with agreeing to hire and engage in prostitution in a public place. Mike Allen is a Canadian. At that time, Allen was an MLA, a Member of the Legislative Assembly. Allen represented Fort McMurray, the Tar Sands Capital of the Petro State of […]
Sleeping with the Wiindigo, and how to wake up
By Winona LaDuke Way to go Fond du Lac. First you all throw us under the bus over a pipeline. All Minnesota Chippewa Tribes opposed the pipeline formally, but then, you went rogue on us. We all sort of get it, after all it was a difficult decision, sort of a Sophie’s Choice decision forced […]
The Last Tar Sands Pipeline
By Winona LaDuke This past month, Enbridge CEO Al Monaco shared his plans to complete Enbridge’s Line 3 through Minnesota by the end of 2019. That promise to shareholders may be an empty promise, as the legal challenges to the 915,000 barrels a day tar sands pipeline mount. In mid-February, the Walz /Flanagan Administration announced […]
White Earth and Red Lake join with DoC to appeal Pipeline
By Winona LaDuke On Dec. 21, the Department of Commerce joined the White Earth and Red Lake Nations and environmental groups in the Minnesota Court of Appeals. The plaintiffs are asking the Court to overturn the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) decision to grant a Certificate of Need for Line 3. If the certificate of […]
Pipelines, migrating geese and really bad math
By Winona LaDuke As I watch the geese fly south, I pray that they will come home, giiwedinong to the north, and our lakes and waters will welcome them. In the meantime, there are some dumb decisions made. In Minnesota, we were able to have the highest voter turn-out of any state. We will hope […]
The meaning of consent: Fond du Lac and Enbridge
By Winona LaDuke “Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) is one of the most important principles that Indigenous Peoples believe can protect their right to participation. It is embedded in the right to self-determination. The duty of States to obtain Indigenous Peoples’ FPIC entitles Indigenous people to effectively determine the outcome of decision-making that affects […]
Black Snake Chronicles: Police, Courts and Victories
By Winona LaDuke August was marked by three new landmarks in Native resistance to pipelines in Canada, Minnesota, and North Dakota. On August 29, 26 people were cited in downtown Bemidji, Minn. after stopping traffic for four hours. Ojibwe women from Red Lake, Leech Lake and White Earth were joined by the Board Chair of […]
The Bad Decision: PUC approves Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline route
By Winona LaDuke Apparently $5 million is the price to buy a pipeline route in Minnesota. In an unprecedented process, the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued a 5-0 approval of the Certificate of Need for Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline. In a second move, they approved tentatively a route permit for the company’s preferred route, […]
If the System Works
By Winona LaDuke I want a system which works, after all, the US likes to tell everyone in the world how to govern and it would be great if a regulatory and governance system worked in Minnesota. At the least. The Minnesota Department of Commerce (DOC) says Enbridge’s new pipeline 3 is not needed based […]
Oil, Water and the Judges
By Winona LaDuke The Husky Oil Refinery’s catastrophic spill and fire in Superior, Wisc. on April 26th points to the problem of oil and water. With immense gratitude for the firefighters who extinguished the tar sands oil fire, we are alive. They were able to stop the fire before it spread to the tank of […]
HTE to bring legal action challenging MNPUC
In December, Honor the Earth vowed to bring legal action challenging the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MNPUC) 4-1 vote to approve the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) – once three minor, technical “inadequacies” are addressed that PUC Commissioners called for during its meeting – for Enbridge’s proposed Line 3 “replacement” pipeline in northern Minnesota. The vote […]